Smoked Grape and Rosemary Focaccia

When I arrived at school, I came with every intention of getting super involved. I wanted to be that person – the person who squeezes in a few too many clubs and activities, the person who comes home exhausted. I honestly love being busy, and I wanted to wholeheartedly accept new experiences.

It was a valiant effort. In the activity fair my first week, I scrawled my email address onto dozens of sign-up sheets and mailing lists – social justice, poetry, photography club, the college newspaper, book publishing, even freshman government. I walked between the elms and brick buildings back to my dorm, consumed with anticipation, wondering which clubs I’d get into and which ones I’d fall in love with.

More than anything else, though, I wanted to be accepted to my school’s radio station. It’s prestigious around here, difficult to get into and fully student-run. Even though my passion is in print, in the weight of an inked word on paper, I’m smitten with This American Life and 107.7 The End (which I stream online here across the country.) I missed listening to NPR every morning in the carpool to high school. I missed radio in general.

I’d seen the students involved with the college station, and found everything about it appealing. I wanted to carry heavy headphones in my bag and hear my voice, weirdly foreign, emerge from the radio. I picked up an application.

Four weeks later, I’m even busier than I’d hoped to be, even though I slowly withdrew from most of the clubs I’d signed up for. Instead, I got a job at a bakery, which I’m so excited to start. I clung to photography club, which is one of the highlights of my week – photos will come soon, promise. Add homework, classes, a few minutes for meals and – oh, did I mention? Lots and lots of radio.

I’m a reporter for the news department. I make contacts and conduct interviews, which I edit into sound clips and adjust until the levels are right. I research. I’m learning to project my voice and breathe properly on-air. I now search for potential stories everywhere, breathing in information and exhaling headlines. I rewrite press releases and post stories to the web. And at least several nights a week, I’m underground at the station past midnight, rerecording my script over and over and over… trying to pronounce all the words correctly.

I had no idea it would be this hard, or this demanding. I didn’t realize it would take me two hours to produce a 45 second clip, and… well… a lot longer to create an eight minute one. And I couldn’t have anticipated how much I’d adore it.

To be sure, it has its downs. We were expected to hit the ground running, and my first week was rough. I’m starting to learn the terrain, but that doesn’t make it easy. I’ve had afternoons where nobody answers my calls, where I say, “Hi, I’m Elissa Bernstein and I’m a reporter with–” only to be cut off and dismissed. There have been nights where I spent more than twice as much time editing and writing than sleeping. (Which is easier than it sounds when you’re running on 4 hours of sleep.)

I remember the shift where I couldn’t figure out how to work the dashboard, with all its dials and buttons. Once, I accidentally bumped the microphone off its stand. Another afternoon, I hung up the phone after a great interview, only to realize I’d improperly recorded the conversation (in other words, hadn’t recorded the conversation) and had to start from scratch.

As a new staff member with no previous experience, everything is trial and error.

Even though I’m only seriously involved with a couple activities, they’re full of so many unfamiliar skills and unexplored subjects, my education extends far beyond the classroom itself. This radio position is more than an extracurricular, it’s a part time job and the wholehearted acceptance of new experiences that I craved. Who knows what I’ll be able to do in the future after this? Every time you acquire new knowledge, you can funnel it into the creation of something incredible.

Like smoked grape and rosemary focaccia.

My parents and I discovered smoked grapes one summer night a few months ago. We used to spend hours sitting in lawn chairs around our home-built fire pit, roasting hot dogs and watching marshmallows molt. One evening, long past sundown, when the whole world was crackling logs and faraway pinpoint stars, my mother brought out a bowl of grapes.

I think it was my dad’s idea. He skewered a grape onto a thin branch still sticky with marshmallow sugar, set it over the fire. It was smoking when he pulled it away from the flames. He popped it into his mouth, and a look of surprise took over his face. He made one for Mom, and I tried the next one. The grape was warm, but not hot, with a smokiness that caught you off guard. It was so strange, so good, so full of possibility.

We tried to brainstorm how best to showcase this miracle. I thought they would be good with anything and everything. Baked into a tart. Tossed with mixed greens in a salad. Or maybe sliced with bright, fresh jimaca and mango, served over fish? That’s when it came to me – I knew what I wanted to make first.

“Focaccia,” I said.

Last Mother’s Day I gave my mother a gorgeous book on tomatoes. The book is filled cover to cover with some of the loveliest food photography I’ve seen, and descriptions of dozens and dozens of tomato varieties. In the back, a recipe for cherry tomato focaccia, which I had mentally bookmarked from the first time I saw it. The page swam hazily to mind as I blew smoke away from another fireside grape.

I forgot that I’m not confident with bread-making. I was too excited. Instead I found a recipe for focaccia and bought a bag of grapes. I wanted to find another smoking technique, just in case not everyone has access to a firepit, or the time to individually skewer each grape. My dad said it could be done on the grill. He snipped bundles of sturdy, fragrant rosemary and burned them under the grill’s cover with a big bowl of the grapes. Soft grey smoke streamed steadily from the grill’s sides, like bubbles rising in a fish tank.

I can’t get enough of these grapes. After smoking, their color changed from deep red-purple to burnished gold, as if you could literally see the fragrant rosemary smoke swirling under the skins. My dad had to stop me and my mother from snacking on them as the bread dough rose. I spread the focaccia into a sheet pan, brushed it with olive oil, dimpled it with my fingertips and gently pressed in halved grapes.

It was an experiment, since I wasn’t sure if the loaf would be too watery, if the grapes would keep their flavor, if it would need a touch less rosemary. We pulled the sheet out of the oven. I cut the first slice, and oh, my gosh – that crackle as I broke the crust, the lightness of the center, one or two grapes nestled in with wrinkled tops… That bread was perfection. We ate it so, so quickly we almost felt sick. And it’s one of my favorite memories from this summer, keeping me warm as the temperature drops.

This focaccia is worthy of making twice, three times, over and over again. It’s light, not moist, but soft with a lightly crisp crust. The grapes stay juicy without making the bread soggy, and I just can’t get enough of their flavor. I wanted to put more on, but my dad liked that they were spread out because it made each one more special.

Wash and dry grapes thoroughly and place in an all metal strainer or smoker suitable container.

I used our BBQ that has an interesting feature. The flame shield over the burner can be inverted and it becomes a cup, shaped to hold the wood for smoking. If your BBQ does not have a smoker attachment for wood then put the wood chips in aluminum foil directly over the burner. Place the wood over the HIGH flame and keep the BBQ open so it does not get too hot, we are trying to smoke the grapes not cook them.

When the wood begins to smoke, add the rosemary sprigs and reduce the heat to as low as possible. Place the grapes in the strainer on the opposite end of the BBQ and close the BBQ lid and leave it closed until the wood no longer produces smoke (the wood should all be consumed). Remove the grapes from the BBQ immediately.

Stir together the yeast, water, and 4 cups flour in the bowl of an electric mixer and let stand 5-10 minutes. Add the 1 1/2 teaspoons salt and 1/4 cup olive oil and beat with the paddle attachment on medium speed until a dough forms. Add the remaining 1/2 cup flour and switch to the dough hook. Knead dough at high speed for 3-4 minutes, or until soft, smooth, and sticky.

Transfer it to a lightly oiled bowl, turning the dough so that it is completely coated with oil. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place until doubled in size, 1 to 1 1/2 hours.

Gently deflate the dough and press it into a well-oiled 15” by 10” rimmed baking pan [I used a rimmed half sheet. It didn’t reach all the edges, it was fine.] Let dough rise in a warm place, covered with a clean kitchen towel, until doubled in size, about 1 hour.

Preheat the oven to 500 degrees F and combine the chopped rosemary and remaining 3 tablespoons olive oil. [I didn’t do this, because there was already rosemary flavor in the grapes, but you could heat the oil and rosemary together with some garlic to amplify the flavor. You could also try mixing some rosemary into the dough itself.]

Using your fingertips, make shallow indentations all over the dough. Brush with the rosemary olive oil, letting it pool in the indentations. Press grape halves, cut side down, evenly into the dough. Sprinkle with sea salt.

Bake for 6 minutes, then reduce the oven temperature to 475 degrees F. Bake until golden. It’ll depend on the size and thickness of your focaccia, but the total baking time will be around 20-25 minutes. Immediately transfer to a cooling rack and eat at room temperature, or if you can’t resist, piping hot and ripped into hunks.

I’ve been checking your page three times daily for the past couple of days waiting for you to have a new post. I promise that I have a life, it’s just that a lot of it involves sitting at the computer writing or doing research (for articles! I write for my school’s newspaper!) and your blog is a convenient way to avoid getting work done. Plus reading your posts about experiences that seem freakishly parallel to mine brightens up my entire week.
I love the idea of smoking grapes. (I discovered roasted cherry tomatoes this summer and made something similar, except the first time I baked the bread I had to make two batches of tomatoes because I ate the first one.) And I love hearing about your radio experiences. I’ve also fallen head over heels in love with the student newspaper at my school, though I’m beginning to discover some of it’s not so lovely attributes. I definitely spend more time writing and researching and interviewing for the paper than I do studying. Only don’t tell my parents. Or my professors.
Glad to hear that you’ve found the select few activities that make the hectic days and sleepless nights worthwhile. Good luck with everything!
– Sarah

Sarah, you always make my day! I know time is lagging between posts… each one takes a long time to create and I’ve never been busier. But as long as you keep reading I’ll keep finding time to blog. :) Hope you’re enjoying DC!

I remember those crazy first days of college, I also wanted to be a part of everything! I’m glad you found your passion! The no sleep is totally worth it when you enjoy what you’re doing.
Those grapes look crazy! I would have never thought to smoke grapes! Great post!

My friends in college always said that you can sleep when you’re dead. While this is perfectly true, just remember to take care of yourself so that you stay healthy. I’m glad to hear that you have found a new interest and I’m sure that as you get used to everything it will get easier and even more fun. That bread sounds delicious! I think that I will have to try making some sometime soon.

I’m glad you’re staying busy. Believe me, it makes all the difference. And congrats on the bakery job! That’s exactly what I want and have yet to find, so I’m pretty jealous. :P
I love focaccia. I’m just finishing up my artisan bread class at school and we’ve made it a few times. Delicious. I’ll admit it… I literally just sit in my dorm after class and eat the bread I got to take home. It’s kind of bad, but oh so tasty. :D

That sounds awesome! In my experience, it’s better to be immersed fully in a few activities than to stretch yourself thin across several.

Between the radio station and the job at a bakery, you seem to have found yourself….or at least who you are for now. And while who you are for now may change (or may not….who knows) your life and activities now will definitely shape your future person in some way or another.

Congrats on your acceptance to the prestigious radio station! Good luck with that and your baking/cooking!!! Oh. And college coursework, in general. Of course.

What an upbeat, smile-provoking post… and a great springboard to finally do something with my out of control rosemary bush. It’s such a delight to catch glimpses of your new life, and keep in touch with stories of your family. Good luck to you in having fun and keeping life’s demands s in balance.

Stephanie – I’m not sure how I’m finding time to study. A lot of it is sacrificing sleep (I’m dead on my feet most days) and a lot of it is clever scheduling. Sometimes my radio shift will end and I’ll have 3 minutes to RUN RUN RUN to class, then once the class is over I’ll have a bakery shift in 10 minutes. I find time to eat, nap, and study in those little breaks.

This post has reminded me that you are never too old to learn something new and. Thanks for the gentle nudge that I’ve needed this week to remember to always, always take view a new experience as an unexpected opportunity to take away something that can be applied to me as a person, not just my job.

Wow, I love the smoked grapes idea! Here in this part of the world we cook a lot interesting things on the fire, including bread rolls (cooked straight on the grid), and stews or curries, even soup, but I’ve never thought of smoking grapes or tomatoes!

Wow I must confess I have also been checking and rechecking to see if you have posted again! it really brightens my day. This foccacia is PERFECT for the weather in South Africa at the moment, and perfect for our end of year photojournalism class braai- so excited.
It’s really cool you’re getting into radio. I also prefer print but this term we did soundslides- putting audio to our images and man it is time consuming! But the end result is powerful.
Just don’t burn out too quickly- I don’t want to inhibit your enthusiasm, but when i was in first year I was a designer for our student newspaper, working every second weekend for the WHOLE 72 hours of the weekend- slept in the offices, lived off coffee. I don’t regret it at all and i learnt a lot, but most importantly I learnt to listen to my body, only after it literally broke down! Had to quit everything except the essentials. I’ve only recovered fully now, to my correct weight and health, in my third year, and am raring to go again, but this time with boundaries. But I’m sure you’re more sensible with your health than I was! :)
I’m so excited to try smoke the grapes! such a unique idea!

It sounds like you’ve found some wonderful activities to take part in! Photography, radio, and working at a bakery seem like the perfect trio for you!
This bread looks and sounds amazing! I have never tried smoked grapes, but they sounds like something really special!

I’m glad you’re being so active! Freshman year is definitely the time to establish yourself before everyone kind of branches off to their own thing the remainder of college. I’m curious what bakery are you working at and how did you apply? I’ve been tempted to apply PT in a bakery but not sure how to without a culinary degree! But it’s inspiring to hear that you have.

Jessica – It’s a bakery which also serves as a cafe and restaurant, and I’m not actually working back of the house. I’m a server up front. But I think my internships at restaurants back in Seattle helped strengthen my application, and I’m sure it would help you too even without a culinary degree. Many people who worked at the restaurants back home had never gone to culinary school, they learned through experience.

22.Jessica | October 21, 2010 at 9:28 am

Thank you for replying! Hmm now I’m quite curious where this is. I live in Boston also, but I swear I won’t stalk or anything. Flour comes to mind though. BTW I’m glad you’re having a great time on your radio show! I think someone I knew from high school had his own program and he loved it. Emerson does have a great station

I made a similar focaccia, but yours just looks so much better. Must be the grapes. We grow tons of Concords, and we’re transplanting our Muscat grape vine to a new spot. If we’re lucky we’ll get grapes next year again. I’d love to try those smoked, and if we have enough raw ones, to share.
Good luck on student radio!!

I happen to be a big fan of focacia. What I’m not a fan of however are radio stations. Don’t take that the wrong way though, I’m happy for you and your accomplishments, and I love the idea of radio; I just can’t really listen to it anymore. There once was a time where I would often use the radio to discover new music. That is, until I realized that all of the stations in my area played twice as many audio-commercials as anything else.

So that’s why whenever I am listening to the radio these days I’m probably listening to NPR (which coincidentally I also heard on the way to school every morning). I have to admit, I miss its presence in my schoolday. Well… everything but the pledge drives. Those ruined my mornings. But on second thought they probably deserve my money if their jobs are half as hard as you make them sound.

Reading your posts always brings a smile to my face. I can’t avoid the first thought…that I wish I could have been lucky enough to have you in one of my classes when I taught high school. Your stories capture every experience with such detail and emotion that I feel like I am right there with you. Now, I am remembering the frantic but wonderful pace of college with the fragrance of grapes in the background…

Oh, I love bread. Yummers!!!!!!!! I could eat oodles and oodles. I enjoy the photos without any calories. Every now and then I enjoy some nice and warm with oodles of butter or a nice fresh fragrant pear with a slice of cheese to go with my bread. Oh, I’m hungry. I think I need to go check on breakfast. Smoked grapes………mmmm……..sounds like another favorite:)

I have just stumbled randomly onto your blog while looking for good instructions on browning butter. Just a quick read of this post had convinced me that I think you are attending the college I graduated from. (The radio station thing tipped me off.)
I loved it there and I love your blog! I’ll keep checking back!

Elissa, this was beautiful. I’m so glad you’re having such fun at school – the radio station sounds fantastic! Keep doing what you’re doing :). This focaccia looks dreamy! I love the smoked grapes idea. I’ll have to keep it in mind next time we’ve got grapes in the house.

What an amazing idea to do with grapes. Smoking it sounds so delicious. I am so happy for you that you have discovered yet another passion—Radio! You are such a talented and warm hearted girl—good luck in all your future radio interviews with all your newbie mistakes behind you.

A school in Boston with a famous radio station? I think I’ve figured it out! If I’m right, I listen to that station all the time, I’ll be sure to listen to your voice! By the way, one student foodie to another, be sure to try the Flour Cafe, there are 3 locations in Boston/Cambridge and theier food is to DIE for!!!

Sounds like you are one happy and very busy bee. I am glad to hear/read that :) I’ve never done focaccia and I’ve never heard of smoked grapes before. This post is inspiring me to seriously give it all a try :)

Your focaccia sounds great! My husband does something similar with grapes that I love. He grilles them and serves them on toasted bread with some warm goat cheese that has been rolled in herbs and grilled just a bit. Wow are they good! I really enjoy reading your blog and you sound like you are doing great at college.

So I’ve just discovered your blog, and it’s been a long process of reading through all of your posts! You are a kind a caring girl, so I thought that as a college junior (oh god. I’m a junior. It’s truly crazy) I might just pass along some advice. Sometimes, no matter how much you want to fit in and no matter now many people try to prod you into a club so it will look good on your resume, you’ve got to go with what feels right. With clubs it’s hard, but I truly believe that when you feel at home with your group, that’s such a golden moment. We only get to go through college once, so live it up: join what clubs you love, and know when you’re taking on a bit too much (hint: you won’t be sleeping or eating). Just go for it. I feel like I just got to college, and I’m already researching graduate schools while abroad in Europe. Everything flies by, and in the end, I don;t believe in the whole “it looks good on my resume” or “I’m going to fit in” approach. When you are a good person who is passionate and truly cares about others, all will be good! So good luck, and remember- live it up! This really only happens once.

Hi Elissa, I just found this website today and am BLOWN AWAY by your talent. Your photos are beautiful, haven’t tried any recipes yet but I have already bookmarked a dozen or so, and your writing is so sincere and heartfelt. I am really inspired.

I read your post about dealing with the good and bad aftermath of gaining more recognition with your blog, and learning to deal with negative nancies (shake ‘em off, shake ‘em off), and I have to say that I so admire how you just powered through. I am very sensitive to criticism and it’s held me back from some of my passions and I really impressed how you learned so quickly to bounce back—I will try to keep you in mind next time I feel discouraged!

[…] unfortunately “scrunched” hair. I was certainly not thinking about the ins and outs of Smoked Grape Rosemary Focaccia. So, back to those cookies. They have been on my bookmarked list for a long time now…I all […]